Kidnapped!
by ichigo2202
Summary: Ichigo Masaya has been traveling with the Elric brothers ever since she met them at the Central train station. She leaves for a few days, and when she is retrieved by Ed, they find Al is missing, presumed abducted. Will they find Al before it's too late?
1. Reunion

Ichigo loved the sound that the waves made as they brushed over the sand. The gentle "whoosh....... whoosh......." soothed her. She smiled, closed her eyes, and began singing the words of a lullaby as old as the earth softly to herself. The waves seemed to slow themselves to the tempo of her song. She finished on a note that made the sand itself tremble with happiness. She smiled and opened her eyes, noting how dark it had become so suddenly. She realised that the quiet pounding she could hear was not, in fact, the waves hitting the shore; it was footsteps, and a set that were as familiar to her as her own breathing. She sighed and stood up to greet the intruder that was running over the dunes toward her.

"ICHIGO!!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!?!?!?!? YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE IN CENTRAL!!!!!!!"

The boy skidded to a stop in front of her, panting hard.

"Good to see you too, Edo-Kun~" she chirped. The boy, who was still trying to regain his breath, shot her a glare from under his long, plaited blond hair.

"I was just about to come back; I was saying hi to mom and dad. I've not seen them in a while; I've missed them.... This place reminds me of them in a lot of ways. It's so beautiful, you know? I think I could stay here forever... as long as you were with me." She smiled, closed her eyes and sniffed the air delicately; what was left of the boy's bad humor dissipated.

"Well, some warning that you were going away might have been nice," he grumbled, "other than the 'byebye!" you count as a warning!!!"

She laughed. "If I always told you where I was going, Edo-kun, the world would be a much less interesting place." She frowned. "How did you find me here, anyways?"

He grinned and moved toward her until their faces were practically touching. "If you knew everything about me and my sources, my life would end with an interestingly sudden death." He laughed as she punched his arm, and both of them walked back the way he had come from.

She suddenly noticed something important and slapped her head with her left hand. "Oh, I forgot to ask! Where's your omnipresent shadow today?" She teased. He frowned, and a shadow crossed his face. Her smile slowly faded. "Edo-Kun? Is Al-kun alright? I was only away for a couple of days, that's not long enough for anything to happen, right? Right?!?!?" She panicked. All of a sudden, Ed burst out laughing. She stared at him for a couple of seconds. "NOT FUNNY MORON!!!!!!!!! I WAS SERIOUSLY WORRIED ABOUT AL THERE!!!!! GOD, WHAT IS WITH YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR?!?!?!?!?" She stormed off in a huff, trying to hide her smile as Ed lost his balance on the sand dunes due to being doubled up laughing. In this way, they covered half the distance to Central. "Where is Al, anyways?" she asked reluctantly.

"Helping out Mustang," He replied. "There was a few.... minor jobs that had to be done." Ed smirked to himself and Ichigo wondered what the "minor jobs" entailed. Her beautiful face scrunched into a deep frown as she tried to catch Al's mental waves. The distance made it harder for her, but it wasn't as hard as, say, getting into a cat's mind. Now THAT was hard, strange as it may sound; Ichigo's theory was that the cat's mind was almost identical to her own, causing problems with the waves that were transmitted. Ichigo's mind was always transmitting waves, because of her mental capabilities. This meant that the waves coming into her mind were cancelled out by the waves leaving her mind. Sometimes, if she concentrated really hard, she could just read the outermost thoughts.

And BOY, were they interesting. Cats always got into the most interesting places, she thought wistfully. Then she awoke from her daydreams with a start as she found Al's mind. It was hard to explain how she found people; suffice to say, everyone has their own distinctive aura. It was easier to see some auras than others; Al's, for instance. Ed's was probably the easiest, no matter what distance, because of the bond that they shared. Her forehead smoothed out as she asked Al how his jobs were going, through the temporary mental link that she had forged. She opened her eyes, keeping the tenacious link open as she asked Ed if anything had happened whilst she was away.

"Not really, no. Ling stopped by with Ran-Fan; they're thinking of moving into central. Ling still wants to know how our alchemy works, and-"

"How to become immortal?" Ichigo finished his sentence for him. He laughed.

"Yeah, he just won't give up on it. I don't know how many times Al has told him it's not all it's cracked up to be, and the fact that the far East's medicinal alchemy is more likely to hold the secret than ours; he just doesn't LISTEN!" Ed growled. He really takes this to heart, Ichigo observed.

"Edo-kun.... Has Al....." She didn't know how to finish her sentence.

"He's recalled more, yes. Not all, but most." He stopped walking and turned to face her; they were around twenty minutes away from Central now. "If not for you, Ichigo, he wouldn't be in his current form. He - and I - are forever in your debt for that." Ichigo smiled softly.

"If not for you, Edo-kun, my life wouldn't be worth living. Remember what I was like when you met me?" Ed tips his head to the side quizzically.

"Sure, you were an unbelievably peppy, annoyingly happy person – not much different from now, actually." He laughed, and her smile spread into a wide grin.

"Only on the outside. You two helped me overcome that barrier; the pressure to be happy even when I just wanted to die. Remember, my mom and dad – my old mom and dad – had just died. I was alone."

"You brought me back to life, Edo-kun."

Ed stared at her, awestruck. She's never revealed this much detail before, even to him. He moved towards her instinctively and wrapped his arms around her from behind. She leaned back into the embrace, relaxed for the first time in three days – the last time he hugged her. This one gesture is her safety mechanism, all that's needed to release her from the world. She loves him for giving her this release. They stood there for a few minutes, not saying anything, comfortable in each other's presence. Then Ichigo sighed, and the moment was over; it was time to get back to work.


	2. Worry

"WHAT?!?!?!?"

Ichigo jumped as Ed slammed his hand down onto Mustang's desk. "YOU TOLD ME HE WAS COMING HERE TO DO SOME JOBS TO KEEP HIM OCCUPIED UNTIL I CAME BACK! WHERE IS HE, MUSTANG?!?!?!"

Ichigo smoothed her hand down Ed's arm, trying to calm him. His attempts to shake her off failed, and he slowly stopped trembling with anger. "I thought he was safe enough to walk to the offices without an escort, what with the Homunculus and Scar gone," The Flame Alchemist, Roy Mustang, said amiably. "Perhaps he just decided he had other things to do?"

"NO." Ed's vehement reply made Ichigo look at him sharply. "He promised to do these jobs, Mustang. I made him, to make sure he would be safe. He's only twelve years old, for fuck's sake!"

"ED!" Ichigo yelled. Ed jumped guiltily. "WILL YOU PLEASE TRY TO KEEP YOUR HEAD?!?!? THE COLONEL IS TRYING TO HELP, NOT HINDER!" Ed looked at her and opened his mouth, as if to say something. But when he saw the tear glistening at the corner of her eye, he slowly shut it again. "I'll help you as much as possible; I have many duties to perform, what with this promotion." Ed nodded at him and apologised for his rude behaviour; Mustang accepts his apology, knowing that Ed's anger was not directed at him, but at whatever had made Al disappear. Ichigo watched this exchange with a calm exterior; inside, everything is in turmoil. She is trying to open a mental link with Al; at the same time, she is informing her parents about the situation. She's met with concern;

"The earth shall forge a path to him, no matter what it takes, be it weakening our world to keep yours intact." Her mother, Gaea, said solemnly. Ichigo smiled through her tears. Accessing her own world was easier when she withdrew into herself; the only problem was that time moved differently when she was in this place, not quite The Gate nor the worlds that lie on either side of it. It was known as "utsukushii niwa" to her. It felt like the safest place to be, aside from Ed's arms, for her. She hammered again and again at the wall that had been put up between her and Al's mind; with growing horror she realised that she could not break through. It means that whoever had separated her and Al was stronger than Ichigo; the fact scared her. She opened her eyes.

"I can't get through." She said it calmly enough, but there was a slight underlying tremor in her voice that hinted she was scared. Ed and Mustang turned to her. "I can't get into Al's mind. There's a... a barrier... I can't break it down..." Ed stared at her for around half a minute, whilst Mustang tried to get her to describe the barrier.

"Was it meant to be a healing barrier? Perhaps Al got hurt and was using one to heal himself. That is a possibility, Ichigo."

"No..." She whispered. "Al's barriers were nowhere near that strong when I left, and they won't have grown by that much in such a short time..." She took a deep breath. "I think someone took Al."

"No. Why would anyone want Al?" Mustang asked. He was obviously confused.

"Al was a giant suit of armour before. Now he's a normal twelve year old boy. Who wouldn't want to know how he changed back? Perhaps they've had a failed... attempt as well." Ichigo knew it made sense. She turned to Ed. "Does it sound plausible to you?" She asked. Ed sank into a chair and covered his eyes with his hand.

"Yes, but the person to take a twelve year old boy for experimentation, interrogation - call it what you will – is sick in the head. And..."

"And...?" Ichigo prompted.

"What if he can't give them what he wants? He can barely remember anything. What if they think he's withholding information? They'll hurt him, Ichigo. I promised Al I'd protect him; I have to search for him-"

"No need." Ichigo interrupted. "Whoever has him has forgotten to neutralize the tracker I have on Al." Ed looked at her.

"You have a tracker on Al?!?!?" He yelped.

Ichigo smiled cutely. "And on you. Don't try and find it now,"(Ed had begun to pat himself down) "it's in a fairly unreachable place. Shall we go?" Ed straightened up from checking his shoe soles and nodded. She turned to the Colonel. "Are you coming, Colonel?" Mustang considered the offer, but said no, thank you, he had rather too much work to be done. She nodded, smiled, and wished him a good day. Ed followed her out with a simple "See you, Colonel" thrown over his shoulder. Mustang smiled to himself and shook his head as soon as they were out of sight.

"Kids these days," he muttered. "Always on adventures." He called Lieutenant Hawkeye into his office and asked for the paperwork that needed done.

Ed and Ichigo went to the Devil's Nest first, a shady bar in a back street of Central where Greed first took Al. They asked if anyone had seen a young boy of around twelve years, with brown hair and eyes. One guy looked slightly shifty as they asked the questions, and downed more beers when they were there than he'd probably drunk in his life. Ichigo looked at Ed questioningly. He nodded at her, and she moved towards the table he had to himself, Ed hovering protectively behind her.

"Excuse me?" Ichigo asked tentatively. "Can we ask you some questions?" The man looked up from the beer he was nursing. He took a measured look at her body.

"So long as you're doing the asking," he leered. Ed stepped forward and punched him in the gut.

"Talk to her like that again," He hissed, "And I'll make sure you'll never have children." Ed stepped back and pulled out the chair opposite the man for Ichigo. Ichigo stared at him, shook her head and said, "I am so going to kill you for that."

She sat down, taking the man's hand as she did so. As he started to pull away, she sent a mental picture of Al through the physical link that she'd forged. The man went stiff.

"How did you get in my head?" Ichigo ignored his question.

"What is your name?" Ichigo asked gently.

"L-Lei." He stuttered.

"Have you seen this boy before, Lei?" she asked. "If you do not give an honest answer, I'm afraid Ed here will make good on his promise." The bar was enshrouded in complete silence. Ichigo turned and looked everyone in the eye, one by one, and they slowly went back to talking amongst themselves, although at a remarkably lower volume than before.

"N-n-no, n-never," Lei stuttered, obviously terrified that someone could get into his head so easily. Ichigo felt guilty, so she smiled at him and tried to be slightly gentler. The fact that a man who was about two feet taller – and wider – was scared of her was so comical that she almost laughed. She allowed herself a smile, which faded when she realised that Lei did have cause to be afraid of her; she had invaded the only place a person truly has to himself, and she could do a lot more than just get into someone's mind. She exhaled heavily, and asked in a gentle voice:

"Are you sure now?" Lei nodded. "Do you mind if... if I check?" The man went paler than white.

"N-n-n-no! S-s-stay away!" He whispered. She ignored his protests. Al was the top priority now, and mind reading didn't hurt the subject; they were barely aware of her presence. She explained this to Lei with the patience of a saint, and watched him slowly calm down when she explained how to set up barriers for things that he didn't want seen. "If you have to do it, to find your brother, then do it." He said, smiling weakly at her. She opened her mouth to say that he wasn't her brother, but Ed – who had been remarkably well behaved and silent during the whole exchange – put his hand on her shoulder and told her to let it lie. She took one look at him and nodded; he looked like he was ready to kill somebody.

"I promise, you won't even notice I'm there." She soothed Lei. "I'll go in, check your memories for the past three days, and then we'll be on our way and you'll be 3,000 yen richer."

She stared into his eyes, gripping both his hands. When she saw an opening, she asked if he was ready. He nodded, looking as if he was going to throw up.

Then, she entered his mind.

It was always warm inside people's minds; this was no exception. She floated down what appeared to be a hotel corridor, lavishly decorated. She laughed when she saw that some of the doors had multiple padlocks, spikes, and even a _moat _in front of many of them. She closed her eyes and found the current that would take her to the door she wanted to enter. She revolved slowly to the left and opened them. In front of her was a plain black door, completely unadorned except for-

_Is that a SCYTHE?!?!?!_

It was. Above the door was a long, menacingly black scythe, the sort that the grim reaper is sometimes portrayed with on the other side of The Gate. They were only used for farming here though... Why would a plain, middle-aged man have a scythe on an entryway of his mind? A man who, not ten minutes ago, didn't even know that his thoughts could have a physical manifestation in any form that he wished? And the scythe didn't look new... There was what appeared to be dust on the handle. Ichigo tried to shake off the feeling that there was more to this mind that met the eye; the temperature of the hallway seemed to have dropped several degrees. She slid one of her own swords out of its scabbard; she'd rather be safe than sorry. She took a deep breath and clasped the door handle, which seemed abnormally cold and stiff.

Then, she turned it, just in time to hear the eerie whistling that accompanied a scythe– or any other metal weapon–being swung through the air.

She whirled round, unsheathing her other sword and raising them above her head in a cross shape just in time to block a blow from the scythe that, not two minutes ago, had been above the door. Her mind whirled. How had the assailant gotten it from above her head without her noticing? She shook her head, banishing all thoughts of anything aside from survival from her mind.

"Who are you?" she yelled. "How can you co-exist with another in one mind?" The assailant let out a dry, wheezing sound; it took her a few moments to realise that it was meant to be a chuckle. She jabbed at his scythe – the chuckle had a definite masculine edge to it – and circled around him, never taking her eyes of off him. "I'll ask you once more." She drew herself up, and took out one of the throwing knives she kept in her belt. She threw it with startling accuracy and speed at his head, at the same time seeming to cross the distance between them in hardly any time at all. Distracted by the spinning knife, the man didn't notice her proximity to him until she had pressed her sword against his neck, pushing him back against the wall. "Who are you?" She breathed, inches away from his face.

"I am... The destroyer of worlds; the one that all sane humans fear. Let it be enough to say that your earlier assumptions were correct." The man said in a voice that sounded like graves opening. His breath smelled like stale earth; coffin dirt.

"Earlier assumptions....?" Ichigo wondered. Then her eyes widened, and she drew her sword across his neck. Dust poured out of the incision, accompanied by that eerie chuckle. "What are you doing here? This isn't your world!" Ichigo whispered; she was slicing at him with her swords, but nothing seemed to hurt him. She put away her swords and directed a jet of flame at him; they licked at his dead flesh and destroyed the hood that had previously hidden his face. It was horrible; a face that only appeared in a child's worst nightmare. The flesh had rotted away to almost nothing; his teeth were visible through his cheek, and his bones practically _were_ his face. That was not the worst part, however; the worst were his eyes. They were endless pools of black, with no feeling whatsoever in them. They were eyes that did not care about suffering, could not comprehend grief, hunger or thirst; they were the sort of eyes that could watch the world burn and not betray any emotion.

Ichigo gagged. She had seen many nightmarish things in her life, but those eyes... nothing compared. "How can you be here?" She yelled. "This mind already has an occupant. How can you stay here?" Another thought occurred to her. Everything in this mind had been normal until she'd touched the door; slightly too warm, perhaps, but nothing out of the ordinary. It was as if...

"Why were you guarding that door against me?" She asked quietly. "No, wait," as she realised something else, "I could have entered any door in here and it would have had the same consequences. Why? Why is this mind off limits?" Ichigo could think of only one reason why, but the man that she'd met in the bar couldn't hold the answer.

"So... many... questions..." Death wheezed. "Too... bad... you're... going to... die anyway..." He grinned, and the effect made her nauseous. Combined with the fact he was trying to close the slit in his neck with a tattered piece of cloth from his ruined hood, and she could have thrown up right there and been killed without a fight. She shook off her mind's frightened ramblings and thought of Al and Ed to stop her from throwing up.

"If I'm going to die, you could at least answer the questions for me, seeing as how dying would inconvenience me just a little bit." She said calmly, the start of a smile playing around her lips.

Death let loose the wheeze that represented his laughter. "You have spirit, young one!" Ichigo noticed that the pauses in his speech had disappeared the minute he had managed to close up the slit in his neck. "I shall answer two of your questions. In return, you shall answer one of mine." Ichigo's face was impassive, but she was wondering what question Death would have for_ her_.

"I accept your terms. Now." Ichigo tried to pick a question to ask first, and chose the most obvious one to her. "Why are you in this man's mind, and how is it possible for both of you to co-exist?"

"That's two questions." Death wheezed. "I shall let you reconsider which question to ask."

"No, it's one," Ichigo said cheerily, "They're hyphenated, and it counts as one anyway because one leads to the other."

Death stared at her for a long minute, and Ichigo wondered if she'd pushed too much. Then Death sighed, a sound like mausoleum doors creaking open after years of disuse. "I shall allow it; you are very lucky today, child. You have bested Death himself in battle and then got him to change his own terms." Ichigo said nothing and used all of her determination to try not to burst out laughing.

"Well?" She asked.

Death hesitated – yes, _Death – _and then launched into his explanation.

"I do not have mind waves, as such, because this manifestation of matter that I consider my temporary body doesn't have a heart, and therefore any brain that I had cannot function in my current state. Yet I continue to live, a wraith, the shadow in the corner that everyone fears. Not a life, but an existence." He paused. "I'm sorry, I haven't quite answered your question. The reason that we can both co-exist is because my mind does not emit waves, and as such doesn't affect him in the slightest. I am here because a foolish mortal, who I had been summoned to collect, had died in a peculiar manner. He had been experimenting with some books that he had bought from a street seller on a peculiar science, known as Alchemy. The people who were near his residence at the time said there was a bright light. All I remember was trying to capture the mortal's soul, and then I felt a strange sucking sensation. I think I may have blacked out, which is physically impossible, but after that sensation I remember nothing before I awoke in this mind."

Ichigo stared at him, lost for words. She could bet who the street seller was, but... She already knew Alchemy didn't work in that world. How could a person who was completely new to the science manage to make it work, when during Ed's brief stay he could do nothing? She kept these questions to herself, knowing that Death would not be as gracious as he was with her first question.

"Ok, second question. Why is this mind off limits to me? You've already conceded the fact that if I'd touched any of the other doors you would have done the same thing as you did with that one." She gestured vaguely over her shoulder, afraid to turn around knowing that Death was more than willing to get rid of the annoyance that she'd become.

"It's off limits because it has knowledge from the other world," He said simply, "That you are forbidden to know." Ichigo looked at him for a long moment.

"Will you at least tell me where Al is, and who he's with?" She begged, tears in her eyes. Death looked at her, seeming to grow and broaden before her gaze until he filled the whole hallway in front of her.

"I GAVE YOU YOUR QUESTIONS. NOW, IT'S MY TURN." His voice boomed out, twice as ominous in the near darkness his bulk had caused. Ichigo, however, did not move. "DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME?THE AGREEMENT WAS THAT YOU WOULD GET TWO QUESTIONS, AND I ONE." He said. Ichigo flinched, yet continued to stare at his face. Death was becoming uncomfortable. He fidgeted and looked everywhere but at her face. Finally, she caught his eye. He sighed, becoming a normal height again, although seeming stooped for some reason. "If I tell you where he is, will you answer my question?" He asked tiredly. Ichigo's face brightened, and she nodded eagerly. "He is near the east, in the passing place." Death said.

"Passing place....?" Ichigo asked. Judging from the look on Death's face, it had been a mistake to voice her thoughts. "Ok, ok, your turn..." She conceded reluctantly, then hesitated. It was always good to be on the right side of Death, she thought ironically. "For helping me so much, you can have up to... seven questions." She improvised. Death wheezed out his chuckle again; Ichigo thought it must have been the first time Death had laughed more than once in a day from something other than suffering and cruelty.

"Now, young one... why are you the way you are? How can you exist in this world, when Alchemy dominates the energy coming from the other side of The Gate? Who made you? Why do you age so slowly, and then stop at eighteen? Can you feel emotion? How can you control the elements?" He grinned (not that he had much choice, with _that_ bone structure). "And how did you get here, when you were born on the other side of The Gate?"

Ichigo stared at him. "How do you know I was born on-"

"NO. IT'S MY TURN. ANSWER MY QUESTIONS, AND DO NOT ASK ANY MORE." Death looked scary, so she stopped her trail of thought.

She sighed. "Your sixth and seventh questions tie together. The reason I can be in this world is because I can control the elements (in effectiveness, an Elemental) and I am an Elemental because I am in this world." She grinned. "Nice balance, don't you think? Oh, and that's also the reason I exist, so three down and four to go." She frowned. "Your first question is the hardest to answer... I think I am the way I am because I was lucky."

"Lucky?" Death echoed. "Why lucky?"

Ichigo closed her eyes for a moment, then snapped them open when she realised where she was. Death hadn't moved, however, and so she carried on. "I was lucky because my parents died in a house fire on the other side of the gate. We were not wealthy, but we got along quite nicely. However, we lived in the poorer part of town. One day, a few people must have had enough of going back to small huts when we had a house that was only a shade smaller than a mansion. They torched it down to the ground, forgetting that there was a small baby in the house who could not yet crawl, never mind escape a burning building." She smiled softly, remembering when she'd told Ed this story; he'd tried to open The Gate to get through to them, only stopping when she reminded him of her age; they would be long gone by now. Ed had spent the next two days in complete silence because Ichigo laughed when he offered to bring them back so she could have her revenge. "By rights, I should have died in that fire. But for some reason, I didn't. I woke the next morning in my own bedroom, and cried for my mother and father. The people who came into my room were not my mother and father; they tried to pick me up and take me away with them. I went; even my younger self had some semblance of a sixth sense." She chuckled dryly. "These people were mother Gaea and father Fira. They – and the others, Air and Water – took me in and taught me how to control the Elements. After a..." She paused, then shook her head and grinned, "_few _years had passed, I realised I hadn't aged past the body of a ten or eleven year old. When I asked them why I had such a young appearance, yet a highly advanced mind, they told me the secret."

Death had sunk to the floor via a wall that took up the space in between a door that looked like it was slightly hungry, judging by the way it was salivating over Death's head, and one that was guarded by what looked like a miniature dragon. He looked at her with wide eyes. "I remember that fire." He croaked. "It ravaged the countryside around it as well. I was very busy for a few days afterwards." He paused, his eyes glowing at the thought of suffering. Then he snapped out of his reverie and looked straight at her. "What was the secret?" He asked.

"Now that would be telling." Ichigo winked. Death's face changed when he didn't get his own way. "Now, Death, I gave you seven questions. I've answered five of them. I think you should be satisfied, seeing as how I only got three at most." Death conceded her point and bid her to continue answering. "I'll answer the stupidest one first. Of course I can feel emotion! I'm not a robot! I have all the functions and emotions of a human that cannot control the Elements!" She was angry, Death realised. He refused to apologize, and told her the sooner she answered the last question, the sooner she could go. "I have no idea why I stop aging at eighteen, and even if I did, I wouldn't tell _you_!" She punctuated the end of the sentence by throwing a knife at his head. He ducked, and as he did so, she ran for the exit, hearing him throw things at her back, cussing loudly all the while. She hurled herself into the elevator that functioned as the entrance and exit to this mind, slammed the only button, and promptly fell over as the elevator began to descend – fast.


	3. Chapter 3

Ichigo loved the sound that the waves made as they brushed over the sand. The gentle "whoosh....... whoosh......." soothed her. She smiled, closed her eyes, and began singing the words of a lullaby as old as the earth softly to herself. The waves seemed to slow themselves to the tempo of her song. She finished on a note that made the sand itself tremble with happiness. She smiled and opened her eyes, noting how dark it had become so suddenly. She realised that the quiet pounding she could hear was not, in fact, the waves hitting the shore; it was footsteps, and a set that were as familiar to her as her own breathing. She sighed and stood up to greet the intruder that was running over the dunes toward her.

"ICHIGO!!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!?!?!?!? YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE IN CENTRAL!!!!!!!"

The boy skidded to a stop in front of her, panting hard.

"Good to see you too, Edo-Kun~" she chirped. The boy, who was still trying to regain his breath, shot her a glare from under his long, plaited blond hair.

"I was just about to come back; I was saying hi to mom and dad. I've not seen them in a while; I've missed them.... This place reminds me of them in a lot of ways. It's so beautiful, you know? I think I could stay here forever... as long as you were with me." She smiled, closed her eyes and sniffed the air delicately; what was left of the boy's bad humor dissipated.

"Well, some warning that you were going away might have been nice," he grumbled, "other than the 'byebye!" you count as a warning!!!"

She laughed. "If I always told you where I was going, Edo-kun, the world would be a much less interesting place." She frowned. "How did you find me here, anyways?"

He grinned and moved toward her until their faces were practically touching. "If you knew everything about me and my sources, my life would end with an interestingly sudden death." He laughed as she punched his arm, and both of them walked back the way he had come from.

She suddenly noticed something important and slapped her head with her left hand. "Oh, I forgot to ask! Where's your omnipresent shadow today?" She teased. He frowned, and a shadow crossed his face. Her smile slowly faded. "Edo-Kun? Is Al-kun alright? I was only away for a couple of days, that's not long enough for anything to happen, right? Right?!?!?" She panicked. All of a sudden, Ed burst out laughing. She stared at him for a couple of seconds. "NOT FUNNY MORON!!!!!!!!! I WAS SERIOUSLY WORRIED ABOUT AL THERE!!!!! GOD, WHAT IS WITH YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR?!?!?!?!?" She stormed off in a huff, trying to hide her smile as Ed lost his balance on the sand dunes due to being doubled up laughing. In this way, they covered half the distance to Central. "Where is Al, anyways?" she asked reluctantly.

"Helping out Mustang," He replied. "There was a few.... minor jobs that had to be done." Ed smirked to himself and Ichigo wondered what the "minor jobs" entailed. Her beautiful face scrunched into a deep frown as she tried to catch Al's mental waves. The distance made it harder for her, but it wasn't as hard as, say, getting into a cat's mind. Now THAT was hard, strange as it may sound; Ichigo's theory was that the cat's mind was almost identical to her own, causing problems with the waves that were transmitted. Ichigo's mind was always transmitting waves, because of her mental capabilities. This meant that the waves coming into her mind were cancelled out by the waves leaving her mind. Sometimes, if she concentrated really hard, she could just read the outermost thoughts.

And BOY, were they interesting. Cats always got into the most interesting places, she thought wistfully. Then she awoke from her daydreams with a start as she found Al's mind. It was hard to explain how she found people; suffice to say, everyone has their own distinctive aura. It was easier to see some auras than others; Al's, for instance. Ed's was probably the easiest, no matter what distance, because of the bond that they shared. Her forehead smoothed out as she asked Al how his jobs were going, through the temporary mental link that she had forged. She opened her eyes, keeping the tenacious link open as she asked Ed if anything had happened whilst she was away.

"Not really, no. Ling stopped by with Ran-Fan; they're thinking of moving into central. Ling still wants to know how our alchemy works, and-"

"How to become immortal?" Ichigo finished his sentence for him. He laughed.

"Yeah, he just won't give up on it. I don't know how many times Al has told him it's not all it's cracked up to be, and the fact that the far East's medicinal alchemy is more likely to hold the secret than ours; he just doesn't LISTEN!" Ed growled. He really takes this to heart, Ichigo observed.

"Edo-kun.... Has Al....." She didn't know how to finish her sentence.

"He's recalled more, yes. Not all, but most." He stopped walking and turned to face her; they were around twenty minutes away from Central now. "If not for you, Ichigo, he wouldn't be in his current form. He - and I - are forever in your debt for that." Ichigo smiled softly.

"If not for you, Edo-kun, my life wouldn't be worth living. Remember what I was like when you met me?" Ed tips his head to the side quizzically.

"Sure, you were an unbelievably peppy, annoyingly happy person – not much different from now, actually." He laughed, and her smile spread into a wide grin.

"Only on the outside. You two helped me overcome that barrier; the pressure to be happy even when I just wanted to die. Remember, my mom and dad – my old mom and dad – had just died. I was alone."

"You brought me back to life, Edo-kun."

Ed stared at her, awestruck. She's never revealed this much detail before, even to him. He moved towards her instinctively and wrapped his arms around her from behind. She leaned back into the embrace, relaxed for the first time in three days – the last time he hugged her. This one gesture is her safety mechanism, all that's needed to release her from the world. She loves him for giving her this release. They stood there for a few minutes, not saying anything, comfortable in each other's presence. Then Ichigo sighed, and the moment was over; it was time to get back to work.

*

"WHAT?!?!?!?"

Ichigo jumped as Ed slammed his hand down onto Mustang's desk. "YOU TOLD ME HE WAS COMING HERE TO DO SOME JOBS TO KEEP HIM OCCUPIED UNTIL I CAME BACK! WHERE IS HE, MUSTANG?!?!?!"

Ichigo smoothed her hand down Ed's arm, trying to calm him. His attempts to shake her off failed, and he slowly stopped trembling with anger. "I thought he was safe enough to walk to the offices without an escort, what with the Homunculus and Scar gone," The Flame Alchemist, Roy Mustang, said amiably. "Perhaps he just decided he had other things to do?"

"NO." Ed's vehement reply made Ichigo look at him sharply. "He promised to do these jobs, Mustang. I made him, to make sure he would be safe. He's only twelve years old, for fuck's sake!"

"ED!" Ichigo yelled. Ed jumped guiltily. "WILL YOU PLEASE TRY TO KEEP YOUR HEAD?!?!? THE COLONEL IS TRYING TO HELP, NOT HINDER!" Ed looked at her and opened his mouth, as if to say something. But when he saw the tear glistening at the corner of her eye, he slowly shut it again. "I'll help you as much as possible; I have many duties to perform, what with this promotion." Ed nodded at him and apologised for his rude behaviour; Mustang accepts his apology, knowing that Ed's anger was not directed at him, but at whatever had made Al disappear. Ichigo watched this exchange with a calm exterior; inside, everything is in turmoil. She is trying to open a mental link with Al; at the same time, she is informing her parents about the situation. She's met with concern;

"The earth shall forge a path to him, no matter what it takes, be it weakening our world to keep yours intact." Her mother, Gaea, said solemnly. Ichigo smiled through her tears. Accessing her own world was easier when she withdrew into herself; the only problem was that time moved differently when she was in this place, not quite The Gate nor the worlds that lie on either side of it. It was known as "utsukushii niwa" to her; the translation being "Lovely Garden". It felt like the safest place to be on Earth apart from Ed's arms for her. She hammered again and again at the wall that had been put up between her and Al's mind; with growing horror she realised that she could not break through. It means that whoever had separated her and Al was stronger than Ichigo; the fact scared her. She opened her eyes.

"I can't get through." She said it calmly enough, but there was a slight underlying tremor in her voice that hinted she was scared. Ed and Mustang turned to her. "I can't get into Al's mind. There's a... a barrier... I can't break it down..." Ed stared at her for around half a minute, whilst Mustang tried to get her to describe the barrier.

"Was it meant to be a healing barrier? Perhaps Al got hurt and was using one to heal himself. That is a possibility, Ichigo."

"No..." She whispered. "Al's barriers were nowhere near that strong when I left, and they won't have grown by that much in such a short time..." She took a deep breath. "I think someone took Al."

"No. Why would anyone want Al?" Mustang asked. He was obviously confused.

"Al was a giant suit of armour before. Now he's a normal twelve year old boy. Who wouldn't want to know how he changed back? Perhaps they've had a failed... attempt as well." Ichigo knew it made sense. She turned to Ed. "Does it sound plausible to you?" She asked. Ed sank into a chair and covered his eyes with his hand.

"Yes, but the person to take a twelve year old boy for experimentation, interrogation - call it what you will – is sick in the head. And..."

"And...?" Ichigo prompted.

"What if he can't give them what he wants? He can barely remember anything. What if they think he's withholding information? They'll hurt him, Ichigo. I promised Al I'd protect him; I have to search for him-"

"No need." Ichigo interrupted. "Whoever has him has forgotten to neutralize the tracker I have on Al." Ed looked at her.

"You have a tracker on Al?!?!?" He yelped.

Ichigo smiled cutely. "And on you. Don't try and find it now,"(Ed had begun to pat himself down) "it's in a fairly unreachable place. Shall we go?" Ed straightened up from checking his shoe soles and nodded. She turned to the Colonel. "Are you coming, Colonel?" Mustang considered the offer, but said no, thank you, he had rather too much work to be done. She nodded, smiled, and wished him a good day. Ed followed her out with a simple "See you, Colonel" thrown over his shoulder. Mustang smiled to himself and shook his head as soon as they were out of sight.

"Kids these days," he muttered. "Always on adventures." He called Lieutenant Hawkeye into his office and asked for the paperwork that needed done.

Ed and Ichigo went to the Devil's Nest first, a shady bar in a back street of Central where Greed first took Al. They asked if anyone had seen a young boy of around twelve years, with brown hair and eyes. One guy looked slightly shifty as they asked the questions, and downed more beers when they were there than he'd probably drunk in his life. Ichigo looked at Ed questioningly. He nodded at her, and she moved towards the table he had to himself, Ed hovering protectively behind her.

"Excuse me?" Ichigo asked tentatively. "Can we ask you some questions?" The man looked up from the beer he was nursing. He took a measured look at her body.

"So long as you're doing the asking," he leered. Ed stepped forward and punched him in the gut.

"Talk to her like that again," He hissed, "And I'll make sure you'll never have children." Ed stepped back and pulled out the chair opposite the man for Ichigo. Ichigo stared at him, shook her head and said, "I am so going to kill you for that."

She sat down, taking the man's hand as she did so. As he started to pull away, she sent a mental picture of Al through the physical link that she'd forged. The man went stiff.

"How did you get in my head?" Ichigo ignored his question.

"What is your name?" Ichigo asked gently.

"L-Lei." He stuttered.

"Have you seen this boy before, Lei?" she asked. "If you do not give an honest answer, I'm afraid Ed here will make good on his promise." The bar was enshrouded in complete silence. Ichigo turned and looked everyone in the eye, one by one, and they slowly went back to talking amongst themselves, although at a remarkably lower volume than before.

"N-n-no, n-never," Lei stuttered, obviously terrified that someone could get into his head so easily. Ichigo felt guilty, so she smiled at him and tried to be slightly gentler. The fact that a man who was about two feet taller – and wider – was scared of her was so comical that she almost laughed. She allowed herself a smile, which faded when she realised that Lei did have cause to be afraid of her; she had invaded the only place a person truly has to himself, and she could do a lot more than just get into someone's mind. She exhaled heavily, and asked in a gentle voice:

"Are you sure now?" Lei nodded. "Do you mind if... if I check?" The man went paler than white.

"N-n-n-no! S-s-stay away!" He whispered. She ignored his protests. Al was the top priority now, and mind reading didn't hurt the subject; they were barely aware of her presence. She explained this to Lei with the patience of a saint, and watched him slowly calm down when she explained how to set up barriers for things that he didn't want seen. "If you have to do it, to find your brother, then do it." He said, smiling weakly at her. She opened her mouth to say that he wasn't her brother, but Ed – who had been remarkably well behaved and silent during the whole exchange – put his hand on her shoulder and told her to let it lie. She took one look at him and nodded; he looked like he was ready to kill somebody.

"I promise, you won't even notice I'm there." She soothed Lei. "I'll go in, check your memories for the past three days, and then we'll be on our way and you'll be 3,000 yen richer."

She stared into his eyes, gripping both his hands. When she saw an opening, she asked if he was ready. He nodded, looking as if he was going to throw up.

Then, she entered his mind.

It was always warm inside people's minds; this was no exception. She floated down what appeared to be a hotel corridor, lavishly decorated. She laughed when she saw that some of the doors had multiple padlocks, spikes, and even a _moat _in front of many of them. She closed her eyes and found the current that would take her to the door she wanted to enter. She revolved slowly to the left and opened them. In front of her was a plain black door, completely unadorned except for-

_Is that a SCYTHE?!?!?!_

It was. Above the door was a long, menacingly black scythe, the sort that the grim reaper is sometimes portrayed with on the other side of The Gate. They were only used for farming here though... Why would a plain, middle-aged man have a scythe on an entryway of his mind? A man who, not ten minutes ago, didn't even know that his thoughts could have a physical manifestation in any form that he wished? And the scythe didn't look new... There was what appeared to be dust on the handle. Ichigo tried to shake off the feeling that there was more to this mind that met the eye; the temperature of the hallway seemed to have dropped several degrees. She slid one of her own swords out of its scabbard; she'd rather be safe than sorry. She took a deep breath and clasped the door handle, which seemed abnormally cold and stiff.

Then, she turned it, just in time to hear the eerie whistling that accompanied a scythe– or any other metal weapon–being swung through the air.

She whirled round, unsheathing her other sword and raising them above her head in a cross shape just in time to block a blow from the scythe that, not two minutes ago, had been above the door. Her mind whirled. How had the assailant gotten it from above her head without her noticing? She shook her head, banishing all thoughts of anything aside from survival from her mind.

"Who are you?" she yelled. "How can you co-exist with another in one mind?" The assailant let out a dry, wheezing sound; it took her a few moments to realise that it was meant to be a chuckle. She jabbed at his scythe – the chuckle had a definite masculine edge to it – and circled around him, never taking her eyes of off him. "I'll ask you once more." She drew herself up, and took out one of the throwing knives she kept in her belt. She threw it with startling accuracy and speed at his head, at the same time seeming to cross the distance between them in hardly any time at all. Distracted by the spinning knife, the man didn't notice her proximity to him until she had pressed her sword against his neck, pushing him back against the wall. "Who are you?" She breathed, inches away from his face.

"I am... The destroyer of worlds; the one that all sane humans fear. Let it be enough to say that your earlier assumptions were correct." The man said in a voice that sounded like graves opening. His breath smelled like stale earth; coffin dirt.

"Earlier assumptions....?" Ichigo wondered. Then her eyes widened, and she drew her sword across his neck. Dust poured out of the incision, accompanied by that eerie chuckle. "What are you doing here? This isn't your world!" Ichigo whispered; she was slicing at him with her swords, but nothing seemed to hurt him. She put away her swords and directed a jet of flame at him; they licked at his dead flesh and destroyed the hood that had previously hidden his face. It was horrible; a face that only appeared in a child's worst nightmare. The flesh had rotted away to almost nothing; his teeth were visible through his cheek, and his bones practically _were_ his face. That was not the worst part, however; the worst were his eyes. They were endless pools of black, with no feeling whatsoever in them. They were eyes that did not care about suffering, could not comprehend grief, hunger or thirst; they were the sort of eyes that could watch the world burn and not betray any emotion.

Ichigo gagged. She had seen many nightmarish things in her life, but those eyes... nothing compared. "How can you be here?" She yelled. "This mind already has an occupant. How can you stay here?" Another thought occurred to her. Everything in this mind had been normal until she'd touched the door; slightly too warm, perhaps, but nothing out of the ordinary. It was as if...

"Why were you guarding that door against me?" She asked quietly. "No, wait," as she realised something else, "I could have entered any door in here and it would have had the same consequences. Why? Why is this mind off limits?" Ichigo could think of only one reason why, but the man that she'd met in the bar couldn't hold the answer.

"So... many... questions..." Death wheezed. "Too... bad... you're... going to... die anyway..." He grinned, and the effect made her nauseous. Combined with the fact he was trying to close the slit in his neck with a tattered piece of cloth from his ruined hood, and she could have thrown up right there and been killed without a fight. She shook off her mind's frightened ramblings and thought of Al and Ed to stop her from throwing up.

"If I'm going to die, you could at least answer the questions for me, seeing as how dying would inconvenience me just a little bit." She said calmly, the start of a smile playing around her lips.

Death let loose the wheeze that represented his laughter. "You have spirit, young one!" Ichigo noticed that the pauses in his speech had disappeared the minute he had managed to close up the slit in his neck. "I shall answer two of your questions. In return, you shall answer one of mine." Ichigo's face was impassive, but she was wondering what question Death would have for_ her_.

"I accept your terms. Now." Ichigo tried to pick a question to ask first, and chose the most obvious one to her. "Why are you in this man's mind, and how is it possible for both of you to co-exist?"

"That's two questions." Death wheezed. "I shall let you reconsider which question to ask."

"No, it's one," Ichigo said cheerily, "They're hyphenated, and it counts as one anyway because one leads to the other."

Death stared at her for a long minute, and Ichigo wondered if she'd pushed too much. Then Death sighed, a sound like mausoleum doors creaking open after years of disuse. "I shall allow it; you are very lucky today, child. You have bested Death himself in battle and then got him to change his own terms." Ichigo said nothing and used all of her determination to try not to burst out laughing.

"Well?" She asked.

Death hesitated – yes, _Death – _and then launched into his explanation.

"I do not have mind waves, as such, because this manifestation of matter that I consider my temporary body doesn't have a heart, and therefore any brain that I had cannot function in my current state. Yet I continue to live, a wraith, the shadow in the corner that everyone fears. Not a life, but an existence." He paused. "I'm sorry, I haven't quite answered your question. The reason that we can both co-exist is because my mind does not emit waves, and as such doesn't affect him in the slightest. I am here because a foolish mortal, who I had been summoned to collect, had died in a peculiar manner. He had been experimenting with some books that he had bought from a street seller on a peculiar science, known as Alchemy. The people who were near his residence at the time said there was a bright light. All I remember was trying to capture the mortal's soul, and then I felt a strange sucking sensation. I think I may have blacked out, which is physically impossible, but after that sensation I remember nothing before I awoke in this mind."

Ichigo stared at him, lost for words. She could bet who the street seller was, but... She already knew Alchemy didn't work in that world. How could a person who was completely new to the science manage to make it work, when during Ed's brief stay he could do nothing? She kept these questions to herself, knowing that Death would not be as gracious as he was with her first question.

"Ok, second question. Why is this mind off limits to me? You've already conceded the fact that if I'd touched any of the other doors you would have done the same thing as you did with that one." She gestured vaguely over her shoulder, afraid to turn around knowing that Death was more than willing to get rid of the annoyance that she'd become.

"It's off limits because it has knowledge from the other world," He said simply, "That you are forbidden to know." Ichigo looked at him for a long moment.

"Will you at least tell me where Al is, and who he's with?" She begged, tears in her eyes. Death looked at her, seeming to grow and broaden before her gaze until he filled the whole hallway in front of her.

"I GAVE YOU YOUR QUESTIONS. NOW, IT'S MY TURN." His voice boomed out, twice as ominous in the near darkness his bulk had caused. Ichigo, however, did not move. "DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME?THE AGREEMENT WAS THAT YOU WOULD GET TWO QUESTIONS, AND I ONE." He said. Ichigo flinched, yet continued to stare at his face. Death was becoming uncomfortable. He fidgeted and looked everywhere but at her face. Finally, she caught his eye. He sighed, becoming a normal height again, although seeming stooped for some reason. "If I tell you where he is, will you answer my question?" He asked tiredly. Ichigo's face brightened, and she nodded eagerly. "He is near the east, in the passing place." Death said.

"Passing place....?" Ichigo asked. Judging from the look on Death's face, it had been a mistake to voice her thoughts. "Ok, ok, your turn..." She conceded reluctantly, then hesitated. It was always good to be on the right side of Death, she thought ironically. "For helping me so much, you can have up to... seven questions." She improvised. Death wheezed out his chuckle again; Ichigo thought it must have been the first time Death had laughed more than once in a day from something other than suffering and cruelty.

"Now, young one... why are you the way you are? How can you exist in this world, when Alchemy dominates the energy coming from the other side of The Gate? Who made you? Why do you age so slowly, and then stop at eighteen? Can you feel emotion? How can you control the elements?" He grinned (not that he had much choice, with _that_ bone structure). "And how did you get here, when you were born on the other side of The Gate?"

Ichigo stared at him. "How do you know I was born on-"

"NO. IT'S MY TURN. ANSWER MY QUESTIONS, AND DO NOT ASK ANY MORE." Death looked scary, so she stopped her trail of thought.

She sighed. "Your sixth and seventh questions tie together. The reason I can be in this world is because I can control the elements (in effectiveness, an Elemental) and I am an Elemental because I am in this world." She grinned. "Nice balance, don't you think? Oh, and that's also the reason I exist, so three down and four to go." She frowned. "Your first question is the hardest to answer... I think I am the way I am because I was lucky."

"Lucky?" Death echoed. "Why lucky?"

Ichigo closed her eyes for a moment, then snapped them open when she realised where she was. Death hadn't moved, however, and so she carried on. "I was lucky because my parents died in a house fire on the other side of the gate. We were not wealthy, but we got along quite nicely. However, we lived in the poorer part of town. One day, a few people must have had enough of going back to small huts when we had a house that was only a shade smaller than a mansion. They torched it down to the ground, forgetting that there was a small baby in the house who could not yet crawl, never mind escape a burning building." She smiled softly, remembering when she'd told Ed this story; he'd tried to open The Gate to get through to them, only stopping when she reminded him of her age; they would be long gone by now. Ed had spent the next two days in complete silence because Ichigo laughed when he offered to bring them back so she could have her revenge. "By rights, I should have died in that fire. But for some reason, I didn't. I woke the next morning in my own bedroom, and cried for my mother and father. The people who came into my room were not my mother and father; they tried to pick me up and take me away with them. I went; even my younger self had some semblance of a sixth sense." She chuckled dryly. "These people were mother Gaea and father Fira. They – and the others, Air and Water – took me in and taught me how to control the Elements. After a..." She paused, then shook her head and grinned, "_few _years had passed, I realised I hadn't aged past the body of a ten or eleven year old. When I asked them why I had such a young appearance, yet a highly advanced mind, they told me the secret."

Death had sunk to the floor via a wall that took up the space in between a door that looked like it was slightly hungry, judging by the way it was salivating over Death's head, and one that was guarded by what looked like a miniature dragon. He looked at her with wide eyes. "I remember that fire." He croaked. "It ravaged the countryside around it as well. I was very busy for a few days afterwards." He paused, his eyes glowing at the thought of suffering. Then he snapped out of his reverie and looked straight at her. "What was the secret?" He asked.

"Now that would be telling." Ichigo winked. Death's face changed when he didn't get his own way. "Now, Death, I gave you seven questions. I've answered five of them. I think you should be satisfied, seeing as how I only got three at most." Death conceded her point and bid her to continue answering. "I'll answer the stupidest one first. Of course I can feel emotion! I'm not a robot! I have all the functions and emotions of a human that cannot control the Elements!" She was angry, Death realised. He refused to apologise, and told her the sooner she answered the last question, the sooner she could go. "I have no idea why I stop aging at eighteen, and even if I did, I wouldn't tell _you_!" She punctuated the end of the sentence by throwing a knife at his head. He ducked, and as he did so, she ran for the exit, hearing him throw things at her back, cussing loudly all the while. She hurled herself into the elevator that functioned as the entrance and exit to this mind, slammed the only button, and promptly fell over as the elevator began to descend – fast.

She awoke in the Devil's Nest; Ed looked at her with concern. She realised that she had slumped forward onto the table. She sat up, wincing as the playing card that she had been leaning on detached from her face. She rubbed at the spot, frowning as she realised that Lei was no longer in his chair. "Ichigo, are you alright?" Ed asked her, gently rubbing her shoulders.

"I'm fine, Edo-kun; where's Lei?" She asked, confused. Ed shot a pointed look at the floor on the other side of the table. Ichigo got up and attempted to walk over; she stumbled, and would have fallen had Ed not wrapped his arms around her and caught her. He helped her to her feet; she smiled gently at him. He kept his arms round her waist, afraid that she would fall again, as she persevered to the end of the table. She looked down quizzically; after a few moments, the funniness of the situation hit her and she erupted into hysterics. Lei had fallen face forward onto a patch of red sauce on the floor; taking her earlier battle into account, the thought that that could have been her not too long ago struck Ichigo and she started laughing and couldn't stop – until Ed picked her up, gave a curt order to the owner of the bar to help the man, threw the promised yen onto the table in front of him and carried her out the door before she could protest.

"Ed! What're you doing?" The look he gave Ichigo silenced her. It was getting late; there weren't many people around these streets normally, and at night they were given an even wider berth. She was weakened too much by her battle and the ensuing chaos that she could do little more than hit his chest feebly. "Ed. Put me down NOW." She said sternly.

Ed laughed. "Ichigo, you can't walk, never mind fly. I'll take you to an inn, and then you'll tell me what happened." He silenced her protests with a wave of his hand. "I don't think you're in much of a situation to struggle, do you?" He grinned smugly as her hands – which were hammering against his chest – faltered. He carried her to an inn, called "The Silver Arms". The irony of the name struck him, and he chuckled. Ichigo asked what was funny, caught sight of the sign and then shot him a look.

Once inside, Ed headed straight to the bar; the woman behind it looked vaguely alarmed to see a young man carrying a girl. However, she let them have a room, and even guided them to it. With a brief (and unwilling) statement that she was willing to help them with any needs they may have, Ed smiled at her and closed the door in her face. Ichigo stared at him. "Ed! That was rude!" she hit his chest feebly. Ed sighed and deposited her into a large chair, upon which she curled up into a ball. Ed sat opposite her after lighting the gas lamps that were stationed at strategic points around the room: one on either side of the bed, one of the left of the window that gave a street view (not that there was much to see), and one on either side of the fireplace. There was already a fire burning in the grate; Ed stoked it and sat. He stared at her for a few minutes, until she began to feel uncomfortable. She started to fidget with her hands; he grabbed them and pinioned them in her lap.

"What happened inside that guy's mind, Ichigo?" He asked quietly. "You got in fine, but you come out and you can barely walk. Who was there?" Ichigo looked downward.

"Death..." She whispered. "It was Death. I bested Death himself in battle." She looked up at Ed; his expression was unreadable. "Quite an achievement, don't you think?" Ed looked at her. Coupled with her earlier hysterics, her statement worried him; perhaps the whole thing with Al had tipped her over the edge... He moved forward until he was directly in front of her. Her head still faced downwards; he cupped her cheeks in his hands and moved her face up until her eyes met his.

"Ichigo? What do you mean, 'bested Death in battle"? No-one can best Death." His face had become shadowed. "I know you are strong, Ichigo, but no-one, not even you, is _that _strong." He smiled at her softly. "Now, what really happened?" He hesitated. "Did he... did he hurt you? If he did, I swear to God I'll make good on my promise-"

"You don't believe me?" Ichigo whispered. She brushed her hand across his cheek. "Do you honestly think I would make this up, with what's at stake?" Ed looked away from her eyes, but realised that the only way to see if she was telling the truth or not was to use her own trick. He looked directly into her eyes. Her eyes widened when she realised what he was doing; she tried to twist her head away, but he held her chin too strongly. He saw the opening and dived in.

Ichigo's mind was a kaleidoscope of colours, with four themes: brown, green and gray; silver; blue, coral green and white; red, orange and yellow. The personification of Ichigo's mind took the form of her home, which was essentially a huge garden. He headed for the middle, the fountain, feeling her trying to push him out with every step he took; but she had taught him too well. He used the currents that she was trying to push him out with to carry him forward instead, and was at the fountain a lot sooner than if he'd been trying to walk against it. Ichigo had taught him once that every current of air has a counter current; all he had to do was find it, and with such a good teacher, he knew exactly where it was. The fountain was huge, yet beautiful; in the shape of a huge tree, water poured down the branches into the mirror of water in the bowl. The water flowing down represented Ichigo's thoughts; new ones were continually being added into the bowl, which seemed to be bottomless. Ichigo had taught him how to do this, too; how to take someone's memories and see them as the person saw them. He closed his eyes and thought of Ichigo lying with her head on the table. Eyes still closed, he trailed his hands through the water, feeling things – almost like seaweed –catch on his fingertips. He searched deeper; his arm was up to his elbow in the strangely cool water. At last, he found what he was looking for; the stringy substance seemed to tug at his arm in the water. He pulled it out of the water and opened his eyes.

It looked slightly like a wet bandage; it was about a foot long, and had a reflective, mirror like surface. He frowned as he looked at it; it was too small for Ed to see anything but a sort of blackness. He sighed, knowing what he would have to do next. He took a corner in each hand, spreading it out to show that it was a rough square shape, and lay it in the bowl of the enormous fountain. At once, the water pouring down stopped; a ripple travelled from the strange material to the edges of the bowl. The second that it reached the rim, the material seemed to melt into the water, until the surface of the water seemed to show a picture. He held his breath and put his head underneath the water.

For a few moments, he stayed in the fountain; he started to think back over what he had done leading up to this point, looking for mistakes. At last, Ed could hold his breath no longer; he reared back, out of the water, only to find himself in a long, darkened corridor, lavishly decorated. He smirked to himself; he had gotten it right after all, he had just forgotten the last step. He heard quiet, familiar footsteps; turning round, he saw Ichigo, laughing at the many defences around the doors. He smiled to himself, then started as she whirled round; she was facing him directly. But... Ichigo had told him that it was impossible for people in memories to see you, as long as you kept out of their way. His heart began to beat faster as she got closer; she was within touching distance now. He jumped as far to the right as he could, and lay, sprawled on the floor and laughing, as he realised the door she had wanted was the one that he had been standing in front of. He watched as Ichigo studied the door for a few minutes; then, as she reached for the handle, Ed saw something twitch in the corner of his eye. He whirled round, standing at the same time, just to see a sort of greyish mist headed towards Ichigo. He could do nothing at all without breaking her mind, so he watched in agony as the mist seemed almost to... summon a scythe that he had not noticed before; it had been directly above Ichigo's head. Ed's mind whirled. To be able to get it without Ichigo noticing, whatever the mist was mustn't have stirred the air at all.

He watched the ensuing battle, awestruck by Ichigo's fluid grace and the speed with which the mist (which had, by now, solidified into the vaguely humanoid form that Ichigo had seen) moved. He listened to the answers that followed. And then, he watched Ichigo sprint down the corridor, almost faster than the human eye could follow. He saw the humanoid (which had become mist again for the purpose of the chase) follow her. Ed realised that Ichigo was telling the truth; he tried to fight the feeling of incredible guilt that rose within him at the thought of Ichigo putting her trust in him, telling him what happened, and then he just dismissed her claims. Ed returned to the reality of the pleasant inn to find Ichigo facing away from him. She had taken Ed's hands in her own, to save his mind from breaking, but the moment she knew he was back she dropped them and moved into the chair that he had previously occupied, staring at the fire all this time.

"Ichigo, I'm sorry. You were telling the truth; I just didn't believe you because I thought the stress of your mother not being well and then Al disappearing might have-"

"What? Made me hallucinate? Ed, I've been under more stress than this and haven't broken. Don't try those stupid excuses." Ichigo refused to look at him. Ed sighed. He felt the crushing weight of guilt on his shoulders; the guilt of hurting a loved one who hasn't done anything wrong. He moved over to her slowly, and felt a small part of him die inside as he put his hands on her shoulders and she cringed.

"Ichigo... I love you, you know that. I would never do anything to intentionally hurt you. I... I don't know why I didn't believe you. I was stupid, and I'm sorry... So sorry... Please, forgive me..." Ed had tipped his head forwards; his bangs covered his face. Ichigo realised that if she didn't forgive him now, he would never be able to look her in the eye again. She tipped his head up to face her; she was stunned by the desolation in his eyes. She hugged him to her, showing him that he was forgiven without saying a word. They stayed that way for a while, until Ichigo noticed something.

"Um... Ed?" Ed pulled his head backwards a few inches so that his nose touched hers and they were staring into each other's eyes.

"Yes, Ichigo?" He said, confusion obvious in his expression when he saw that she was blushing.

"Um... There's only one bed..." Ichigo trailed off into silence, her face now fire-red. Ed laughed when he realised she had not seen the simple solution.

"Don't worry, Ichigo; I'll sleep on the couch – for now." He grinned at her mischievously and kissed her before she could protest, swinging her up into his arms as he did so. He deposited her on the bed and retreated to the safety of his allocated couch. She laughed, blew him a kiss and fell asleep quickly. Ed, however, stayed watch throughout the night; he had a bad feeling.

In a dark alley near the Devil's Nest, Lei Mahito was lying in the ground in a pool of his own blood. He was a good man; his only vice was drink and that alcoholic addiction was the main reason he was in this situation. There was a dark shape, towering above his head; it appeared to be moving, but then Lei realised it was just a side effect of being stabbed in the chest. In this area, it was unlikely anyone aside from a fully fledged Alchemist would help someone in this situation; it was too dangerous. He felt a final pang for his wife... his child...

And then he was gone from the world.

After a few seconds, once the overseer had left, a hazy grey mist oozed out of Lei's ear. It collected itself into one area, forming a vaguely humanoid shape. Soon afterwards, it solidified into something that could only pass for human in the dark. It sniffed the air, and headed in a direction not dissimilar to the direction a certain couple had taken a few hours earlier.

Ed jolted awake with a start. There was a cool breeze on his face that had not been there... He checked the clock.

_THREE HOURS AGO?!?!?!_

He shook his head, ridding himself of the last remnants of sleep. He stood up, stretched, and went to close the window that had let in the sudden draft. He paused; had the window been open before Ed fell asleep? He closed it slowly, then whirled around, transmutating his left arm into a blade as he did so.

The room was completely silent except for Ichigo's slow breathing; the battle must have taken a lot out of her for her to still be sleeping through the noise of the window opening and the cold that was let in. Ed sighed and walked over to the bed. He sat down on the edge of the bed beside her; she looked so peaceful and innocent with those burning eyes of hers closed, her usually lithe and constantly moving body still. He brushed a strand of hair back from her eyes and smiled when she muttered his name in her sleep. Ed carefully propped himself against the backboard of the bed beside her, making sure to keep his left arm away from her. He settled himself in comfortably; this was going to be one long night.

Ichigo smiled as the cool thing touched her forehead again; it felt good against the near-fevered skin. She kept her eyes closed, not wishing for the dream to end; but then she heard Ed's voice, calling her name urgently, and she unwillingly opened her eyes.

"Ed, why'd you wake me? I was having such a nice dream..." She frowned at him teasingly, then tried to stretch – and couldn't. Her expression soon turned from mildly annoyed to fully fledged panic within a few seconds. Ed saw how worked up she was getting and realised she would hurt herself if she tried so hard to move, so he tried to calm her down by telling her what had happened.

"Ichigo, you started screaming and having convulsions in your sleep last night. I had to restrain you somehow; I used alchemy to shut down all muscles except the essential ones. Don't worry, though," Ichigo was staring at him with a sense of growing horror, "I'll reverse it now that you're awake. You may want to close your eyes, though; the flash is fairly bright."

Ichigo awoke to find her body was in intense pain – but at least she could feel it. She sat up, biting her lip against the flood of dizziness and agony that washed over her. She tried to look round the room, moving her neck muscles as little as possible; she was searching for Ed. At last she found him, sitting in a chair by the open window. Sounds from the street drifted in: street sellers hawking their wares; the laughter of young children; the guffawing made by men already drunk at this early hour. Ichigo tuned them all out, focusing only on her objective: the sleeping boy in the chair. She tried to swing her legs out of the large bed silently, but a small gasp escaped her lips; small, but not small enough to leave Ed asleep. She dared a glance in his direction and was immediately caught and held by those mesmerising golden eyes of his.

"Ichigo, you know that you need to recover. I should have known you wouldn't accept that fact; from now on I'll monitor you completely, every waking moment, until I deem you are fully healed." Ichigo stared at Ed in shock, but a small part of her agreed with the basics of his reasoning. She should let herself heal; berating Ed wouldn't be worth it unless she could savour every moment instead of trying not to pass out. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Monitoring me won't be much fun for you. I intend to make it as bad an experience as possible, just to make you _pay _for shutting down my body!" She huffed. "Have you _any idea _how stiff I am right now? It hurts to _breathe!" _Ed was looking guilty; Ichigo was working hard to keep a smile off her face at the guilty pleasure of berating Ed. Instead, she tutted and turned her back on him. Ed put his hand on her shoulder.

"Ichigo? I'm sorry. Actually, wait... No, I'm not." Ichigo couldn't keep herself from laughing at this statement, "If I hadn't done what I had done, you might have been in an even worse state." Ed rested his back against the headboard of the bed and folded his arms, putting his real leg over his automail one as he did so; it was a gesture of defiance that Ichigo knew well. She smiled and put her arms around his shoulders.

"I was just teasing, Edo-kun. You know how grateful I am. Eternally grateful." Ed turned his face towards her and she brushed her lips against his before attempting to get up.

"Ichigo, wait-" Then Ed stopped, awestruck, as Ichigo stood up and stretched, wincing as she flexed her stiff muscles. Then she grinned at Ed, who seemed to be impersonating a goldfish fairly well.

"Oh, c'mon Ed! You _know _I can recover fast." Ichigo grinned at him, hands on hips.

"Not _that _fast. NEVER. Ichigo, that's physically impossible! Even for _you_!" He stared at Ichigo in disbelief.

"Ed, I managed to recover. That's all you need to know." She punched the top of his arm playfully. "At least you no longer have those monitoring duties!" Ed just looked at her, stunned into a rare silence. He shook his head, muttered something about "weird, interdimensional aliens" as Ichigo walked towards the bathroom, wanting to wash away the grime of the past few days.

Walking through the streets of Central, Ed kept looking sideways at Ichigo, but she seemed to behave the same as always. She waved at all the passing street vendors, often stopping to examine their wares; she ended up buying two bright red apples, one for her and one for Ed. Ed being Ed, he devoured it in less than three seconds – after examining it to make sure it was just a normal apple for five minutes. Ichigo, however, seemed to sniff hers delicately every time she took a bite, as if savouring every single aspect of the small, red foodstuff. She was still eating it when they reached the military headquarters.

They went in and asked if Colonel – soon to be Brigadier General – Mustang was there. Ed looked like he wanted to yell when the person behind the desk told them that, due to the many people who felt he didn't deserve this position, he had temporarily withdrawn to his offices until the promotion. No one was to get in or out. The girl behind the desk stated this calmly and without inflection, as she had been taught to do. Inside, she was shaking with fear. She had heard of the infamous FullMetal Alchemist; everyone in this office had. He was famed for his rough techniques of getting information. The girl with him was Ichigo Masaya, the first – and last – of her kind. She was an elemental, one who could control anything as long as it had fire, earth, air or water in it; due to her control over air, she could also read – and get into – people's minds. Ed saw the flash of worry in her eyes; it indicated a lie.

"Miss, I know that you're lying. Please tell the Colonel exactly who is here for him, and see if he changes his mind." Ichigo said it gently; the woman behind the desk noted, with surprise, that her voice sounded like liquid silver, but in a good way; like water over a riverbed. She had been expecting the voice of a monster to come out of this... incarnation, but instead she has the voice – and visage – of an angel. Ichigo bore the hate in the woman's thoughts without even a murmur; she had heard a lot worse than 'incarnation'. The woman didn't say anything for a moment, caught between her duty to help the public and the unnecessary hate she felt towards the young elemental. After a few (agonising) moments, the woman sighed.

"Stay here. I shall ask the Colonel." She said curtly. Ed opened his mouth to say some snide remark, but Ichigo stopped him with an elbow to the ribs.

"Thank you kindly, miss. We are both grateful for your help." Ichigo smiled politely, getting only a glare in return. The woman disappeared up the set of stairs behind the desk that – presumably – led to the higher levels of the building. Ed turned to Ichigo as soon as the woman was out of sight.

"What was that for? She was being cruel to you, for no reason! Why am I the one to get elbowed?" He said angrily, rubbing his ribs; the elemental had put quite a lot of force into her mild attack. Ichigo just shook her head at him.

"Ed, just because they think it's alright to be cruel to people, for the reason that they're different, doesn't mean that you have to sink to their level and react." She frowned. "And you didn't need to jump in, you know. I can fight my own battles." She thought about the day before and her face glowed bright red. "Most of the time, anyway." Ed began to laugh, but was cut off by a curt "this way" from behind the desk. As she walked past the woman, Ichigo grinned widely at her. To see a woman who towered over her hate her so much, simply because she was different, scared her slightly; not much, but it was intensified by the fact that the woman was walking behind her. Ichigo's mind would have been more at rest if she could have seen what the woman was doing.

"Miss, what is your name?" Ichigo asked cheerily, masking her fear well. The girl who had fought Death and survived, scared of a little hate? Tch. Ichigo saw that the fear was unnecessary; she managed to stop herself from thinking about the advantages the other woman would have in a fight, and focused on the knowledge that the other woman wouldn't start a fight if she knew enough about Ichigo to hate her. Ichigo could practically hear the woman's teeth grinding behind her as she tried to decide whether to answer or just kill Ichigo now and risk the Colonel's wrath. Luckily, she chose to answer.

"My name is Melody. However, I would prefer you refer to me as Lieutenant Mraz." She said curtly. Ichigo wondered if anything about this woman was soft; even her facial features looked as if they could cut through paper.

"You have a very pretty name, Lieutenant... Marz?"

"Mraz. M-R-A-Z. A child could pronounce it properly." The Lieutenant retorted. She was stopped as Ed slammed his fist into the wall, leaving a blast radius around a metre from the point his fist was imbedded into it.

"Talk to her like that again and you'll reach Mars-" He turned to stare at her, then grinned wickedly. "One way or another." The Lieutenant looked as if she was about to draw her gun.

"Oh, look! The Colonel's office!" Ichigo yelled hurriedly. Grabbing Ed by the arm, she flew to the door and started knocking frantically.

"Hey! Don't knock! You'll disturb the-" The Lieutenant stopped dead in the middle of her sentence. Ichigo turned from her to see that she was about to knock on Mustang's face. She withdrew her fist hurriedly, grinning like a village fool all the while. "Colonel, I'm so sorry, I tried to-" The Lieutenant was – once again – rendered speechless as the Colonel pulled Ichigo into a bear hug.

"My niece! How are you today? Now, you two, come in, come in!" He said cheerfully. He shepherded them into the office, slamming the door in the Lieutenant's incredulous face as he did so. Once that he judged the Lieutenant wasn't listening behind the door, he let out a gusty sigh.

"Honestly, the lies I have to tell... As if Ichigo could be my niece! I don't have any brothers or sisters!" He fumed. "Do these people know _anything _about me?!?"

"Well, Colonel, it helps if you talk to them once in a while rather than ordering them around..." Ichigo trailed off, unsure of whether the Colonel could get any madder. "Not to doubt your judgement-" She grinned wickedly, "_Uncle._" Ed burst out laughing, and the Colonel went the colour of his own flames.

"If the only reason you two are here is to torture me, then I think you should get out now-" he flexed his fists menacingly- " before I turn the tables on you." His furious face made Ed laugh even harder and made it difficult for Ichigo to keep a straight face.

"Sorry, Colonel, but we're here on business. We have to go to the East. I received a... tip that Al was there. I was wondering..." She trailed off, not sure how to continue. Then, she gathered her courage. "Wewerewonderingifyouwantedtocomewithusthistimecosyoumissedoutlasttimeand-" She paused, panting for breath. The Colonel looked at her with confusion on his face.

"Once again, please, in an understandable language...?" He asked. Ed sighed, and covered Ichigo's mouth with his hand.

"Basically, Ichigo here wondered if you wanted to come with us to get Al, because you haven't seen him for a while and it gives you a chance to get away from here for a while, too." He released Ichigo's mouth when he had finished speaking, only to find he had gnawed through his glove, exposing the – now wet – metal underneath. "... Ew." Ed said, looking at his hand with a sort of horrid fascination. Ichigo wiped her mouth, spitting out the cloth she had chewed off into a nearby bucket as she did so.

"YOU LITTLE PIPSQUEAK! DID YOU HONESTLY NOT THINK THAT I WOULD TRY TO BITE YOUR HAND OFF IF YOU PUT IT ON OR IN MY MOUTH?!?!" She shrieked, seeming to grow taller as she did so. Ed smirked, and she knew even before he spoke it would be something smutty.

"Oh, I know you bite things that go in your mouth. I speak from personal experience, here." Ed smiled innocently as Ichigo turned eight shades of red in a few seconds, before grabbing him by the throat and hissing at him to take it back. Mustang stood behind his desk, long forgotten by the two teenagers in front of him. Ed was waving his skin and bone arm in front of Ichigo's face, showing her bite marks from when she was so hungry whilst asleep she mistook his arm for food. Mustang chuckled softly; then, clearing his throat loudly, caught both of their attentions.

"Listen up, you two! I will not come with you this time-" Ichigo groaned – "However, I wish you all the best. When you find Al, tell him I still have those jobs waiting for him, got it?" Ichigo and Ed grinned.

"Yes, sir! And you remember to take care of yourself. Don't work to hard! And give my wishes of happiness to Lieutenant Hawkeye!" Ichigo chimed. The Colonel saluted Ed, Ed saluted back, and then they were out. Free from all of the responsibilities that Central held for them – except for an extremely persistent one which was currently riding on the brainwaves of a certain harsh Lieutenant.

COPY FROM HERE FOR FANDOM

"Ed, slow down a bit! If you want me to walk, then you have to go at a normal pace!" Ichigo groaned, stopping – once again – to stretch her smaller legs. If people chuckled behind their hands when they saw Ed's size, they laughed in her face when they saw Ichigo's. She was around five foot tall, perhaps just clearing it. She had red-blond hair that fell down to her waist, further exaggerating her small appearance. It was normally worn in a loose ponytail or plait. She had beautiful eyes; they were camelion eyes, continually switching colours to suit her mood. Right now, they were a very, very dark purple; an indication of anger. Her clothes consisted of a small black skirt with a top that was a pretty cream colour. If you got close enough, you could see small streaks of red through it, almost microscopic. She usually went barefoot; if it attracted too much attention, then she wore a small white leather pair of shoes that wouldn't inhibit her at all if they were to come under attack. Just now, she was barefoot, trying to enjoy the feel of the hot desert sand under her feet – and failing.

"Ichigo, it's almost nightfall! If you flew now, how am I meant to call you back if you somehow miss the passing place and I find it? You go too fast!" Ed called airily to her, ten paces behind him.

"Yeah, but Ed, I cannot walk as fast as you. Please, slow down?" She pleaded. Ed grumbled, but slowed down enough to fall into step beside her. She could tell Ed was anxious to find Al, but it would be no good if they both tired themselves out only to come under attack by whomever was holding him when they found him. After another hour of searching, dusk had fallen and they were searching in vain; they could be right on top of Al and not see him in the near perpetual darkness of the desert. Besides, they had to be careful they didn't stray too far to the North; strange, evil beings lurked there, especially during the dark hours. That was when they had most power. Ichigo managed to make Ed stop for the night by using this argument; she erected a careful shield around them, making sure is was inflexible should they come under attack. She smiled satisfactorily when she saw that no type of creature, made out of any type of substance, could penetrate it.

"Ichigo, are you sure you don't want to carry on? We are slightly too close to the border. Maybe we should continue a bit further, just to be safe." Ed looked worried, and Ichigo knew he was serious. It wasn't often that he had this look on his face.

"Ed, we'll be fine. Even if some... things come, they can't get through the barrier. It may be the strongest I've ever made!" She grinned proudly. Ed smiled and shook his head; if Ichigo was sure, he trusted her. Both of them exhausted by the distance they had covered today, they both fell asleep on Ed's outstretched coat in each other's arms.

Ichigo awoke with a start. It was still dark out, but something inside was screaming at her to run. It wasn't quite instinct; it went even deeper than that. It was pure, unadulterated fear. She stayed in the position she had awoken in, listening hard. After a few moments, she realised she could hear her and Ed's smooth breathing, underlined by something – something old. Perhaps as old as her. It wasn't on their side of the barrier, but Ichigo knew, somehow just knew, that it could get through to them if she didn't somehow create something stronger than a simple air shield. She made a snap decision to wake Ed up, immediately glad she did when his golden eyes slid open, giving her a feeling of being protected, even in this danger. She pulled herself away from his hypnotic gaze, closing her eyes. She found his mind, and told him exactly what was going on. He stiffened next to her, and then the thing moved.

It was fast, so fast that Ichigo barely had time to react; but react she did, throwing everything she had into a defensive barrier around her and Ed, in a tighter circle than before. The thing hit off the barrier and howled; it was the sound of deat-

_Death._

Ichigo completely shut down as she realised what was in front of her. The physical manifestation of Death. She whispered His name quietly, and the howl cut off abruptly, to be replaced by what sounded like sadistic laughter; only it was like an animal's impersonation of laughter. It was terrifying. Ed's eyes went wide. "Ichigo, that... that thing... it's Death's true form? He can transform... like _him_?" She could sense Ed's horror, and nodded tersely. She could not be distracted. She perhaps had one shot at killing Him, if He didn't either realise what she was trying to do or snap out of His current trance before she had her chance. She unsheathed her swords and whispered two words to Ed.

"Distract Him."

Ed nodded. He knew that a diversion was the only way for Ichigo to win this particular battle. He moved towards the beast, transmutating his arm as he did so. "Hey, you hunk of rotten meat! Why don't you try and fight instead of just intimidating people? Or are you that afraid of Death?" Ed chucked softly at the unintentional pun. Death growled and jumped at him with lightning speed. Ed let out a surprised noise, before punching it as hard as possible in the snout.

Meanwhile, Ichigo had made her way around the creature and was floating a few feet off the ground, deep in thought. Her eyes blazed open, letting out something that seemed to be a cool blue coloured bird, although it moved too fast to tell. "Ed, duck!" She yelled. Ed moved fast; he had already thrown himself to the floor in the time it took the creature to face its doom. The blue thing struck Death squarely between His eyes, seeming to spread throughout its whole body in a matter of seconds, like when a rock is dropped into a pool; the ripples spread fast. All at once, it seemed to shrink and then grow simultaneously; then, it burst.

Ichigo threw her arms over her face protectively, feeling the stinging bite of acid. She neutralised the falling substance quickly, making sure to get every last drop. She ran over to Ed after making sure no trace of the creature remained; she wasn't sure if they could take another fight.

"Ed! Are you alright?" She asked. Ed's reply was muffled by the ground; he still had his head buried in his arms, which were flat on the ground. The rest of him was curled into a sort of foetal shape. "What was that, Ed?" Ichigo asked gently. He raised his head off of his arms.

"I said, is it safe to get up now? Only I'm getting stiff." Ichigo laughed and stood, hauling on his arm to help him to his feet as she did so. He stood up, stretched, and then ran after Ichigo, who was already searching for a new camping place for the few remaining hours of darkness. Her speed belied her eagerness to put this whole episode behind her. Ed shook his head and sighed, slowing to a steady jog as Ichigo stopped at their new camp site. Once he had reached her, she collapsed onto the sand, unable to stand. Ed rushed to help her, but she held up a hand.

"Ed, I'm fine, just a bit shaken. Give me a moment to recover. It's nothing serious." Ed slowly backed away until he was about five feet away from her. Then, he spread his coat over the ground and waited for her, until she finally crawled over, exhausted. They fell into an uneasy sleep, and awoke a few hours later feeling worse than when they had gone to sleep. However, they carried on.

The heat of the desert was warping Ichigo's vision. Everything seemed to swim in front of her... Ed was only a few feet to her left, but he looked miles away. She sighed, and placed her hands to the ground once again. The sand around her hands became a cool blue colour, and sunk to form a sort of bowl. The bowl slowly filled with water, filtered from the deepest reaches of the desert. It tasted old; it reminded Ichigo of her home. She sighed, refreshed, and refilled her canteen. "Ed! Do you need more water? I've got a lot here-"

"No. Let's keep moving. I'll survive." He said in an abrupt tone. Ichigo frowned at him, but he could see why he was anxious to keep searching; they had almost reached the East and hadn't yet found the passing place. In fact, Ichigo could see the wavering outlines of buildings with her advanced sight. "Ichigo, would you mind...?" Ichigo looked at him quizzically, then nodded, understanding. She pushed off into the air, revelling in the almost cool wind that pushed against her body as she rose. She stopped at a height of around fifty feet; she didn't want to drift. She closed her eyes and felt for Al's aura.

It was closer, now, than it had been the last time she'd searched. In fact, it seemed almost to be underneath them. But that was impossible, right...?

"Ed! Can you transmutate the ground into water or something similar?" She yelled. Ed sighed; now was not the time to be worrying about dehydration. Al was so close... Ichigo groaned when she realised Ed thought she wanted him to drink. She rolled her eyes and pointed a closed fist at the ground. The sand turned a darker brown colour, this time; the colour of earth. She slowly opened her fist, and a passage appeared as the sand drained away, around twenty feet beneath the surface. She floated back down, ignoring the surly look on Ed's face at his own misunderstanding; Al was close. "Ed. He's here. We have to hurr- WAIT!" Ed paused at the entrance; he had ran for it as soon as he realised Al was here. "At least have a drink first! I don't want you to die of dehydration if we come under attack." Ed sighed, but complied with her wishes. Then, together, they entered, Ichigo drawing her swords as they entered the near perpetual darkness of the subterranean tunnel.

They had been walking for several minutes when they came to a fork in the path. Ichigo closed her eyes and listened, hard. There were several people down the left fork, but the right seemed to be empty and led to lower depths. Ed immediately struck out for the right fork, thinking that they wouldn't go to all the trouble of building a subterranean lair just to stick their prisoner out in the open.

"Hold on, Ed... I think I can sense Al down the left fork, not the right. But he's on a lower floor... how does that work out?" Ichigo said, confused. Ed thought for a moment, and then his eyes lit up. He ran down the right fork, gesturing for Ichigo to follow – not that she had much choice. She sighed and flew after him into the darkness of the tunnel, unaware of the set of eyes following her movements.

They came to a dead end. Ichigo frowned; she was sure that air continued to flow on the other side of the wall, but it looked solid. She turned to Ed, who had a deep set frown on his face.

"What should we do, Ed? It's a dead end..." She trailed off, not wanting to see the disappointment on his face as he realised his only route to his brother was cut off.

"No, Ichigo. You're wrong. It only appears to be a dead end... This is strong alchemy, for it to look just like a normal wall." Ed said softly, walking until he reached the wall. He clapped his hands together and placed them flat against the stone, frowning when nothing happened. He slowly drew his arms back, confusion evident on his face.

"Why didn't it wo-" he was cut off by a deep rumbling sound. Ichigo realised what was happening before Ed did; she ran and touched her own hands to the wall, letting a deep brown spread from the point where her hand met wall and spreading throughout the tunnel. She let out a sigh of relief as she managed to stop the tunnel from collapsing on their heads. She turned on Ed, a murderous expression on her face.

"Honestly, do you HAVE to be so hot headed all the time? I swear to Kami, sometimes I wonder how you manage without me." Ichigo huffed before turning back to the wall and studying it in greater detail. There were many more fissures now that Ed had tried to take out the rock; she could see a dark space behind it. She closed her eyes, feeling the low yet distinct rumble of air in the ground beneath her. She knelt and placed both of her hands on the rock underneath her, a brown spreading out from them again. This time, though, the rock disintegrated into the air; she had shrunk the particles to such small sizes that they simply disappeared. She grinned at Ed, who was a bright tomato colour, before stepping into the tunnel and starting to walk, sending balls of flame ahead of her to light her way. Ed growled at her retreating back, but hurried after her as the flames started lowering from the ceiling to bob around her. No way was he making that journey in the dark.

From the entrance, hostile grey eyes stared at his retreating back before following the pair at a slightly slower pace, gun at the ready.


End file.
